Linnea Lassiter at DCFPI wrote a paper on the growing unemployment rates for Black D.C. residents, and the Washington City Paper has done a recap. One hypothesis is that the culprit is a booming D.C. economy that has drawn an influx of jobs and labor that typically go to white, college-educated applicants, combined with the gentrification of the City that pushes out businesses and jobs that are black-owned or staffed by minorities:

Lassiter’s research also indicates that educational attainment in itself doesn’t explain employment outcomes. Even among the city’s black residents who have bachelor’s degrees, the joblessness rate was three times higher than that of their white peers: 5.7 percent versus 1.9 percent. Moreover, D.C.’s black college graduates were more likely to be unemployed in 2016 than before the recession.

Mark Paul, “Why We Need a Federal Job Guarantee”:
Further, the FJG will have a strong macroeconomic stabilization effect. During economic downturns, it would expand and hire more people; it would then shrink during economic boom periods as people move from public to better-paying private employment. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, a leading voice on the FJG’s macroeconomic effects, argues that policies like the UBI have no counter-cyclical features. Thus, when the economy takes a downturn — say as it did in 2007 — basic incomes provide no automatic stabilizers to right the sinking ship.

Jeffrey Eisenach on “Making America Rich Again” :
The study focuses on Latino demographics, presents data on the role of Latinos as workers and entrepreneurs, presents data on Latino income and purchasing power, and focuses on the top 25 power Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The data presented in this study demonstrate that the Latino community in the US is a source of both demographic and economic dynamism. Given the demographic profile of Hispanic Americans, it seems extremely likely these trends will continue in the years to come.

The Urbanist on draft rezone recommendations coming for the University District:
OPCD is recommending a suite of rezones throughout the University District. In the core area of the district (blocks closest to the future light rail station and near primary streets like Roosevelt Way NE and NE 45 St), could see increased maximum height limits between 280 and 320 feet. Beyond these core blocks, allowed heights would drop considerably in a wedding cake fashion, transitioning to a general maximum height limit of up to 75 to 85 feet.